A reason to smile

I was nominated by Lala, at Ladybugs and Dragonflies, for this award. Isn't she a sweetheart? Thank you for thinking of me and including me in such a great list of women. I'm very touched! I love your blog and am always blessed by the pictures of your sweet, smiling girl. That kid is seriously cute!

Characteristics for the Smile Award:

1. Must display a cheerful attitude.

2. Must love one another.

3. Must make mistakes. (I think we've just stumbled onto the reason I was nominated)

4. Must learn from others.

5. Must be a positive contributor to blog world.

6. Must love life.

7. Must love kids.

Rules for The Smile Award:
1. The recipient must link back the the award's creator
2. You must post these rules if you receive the award.
3. You must chose 5 people to receive the award after receiving it yourself.
4. You must fit the characteristics of the recipient of the award, as posted by Mere.
5. You must post the characteristics of a recipient.
6. You must create a post sharing your win with others.
7. You must thank your giver.

The creator of the award is Mere

Okay, so I'm supposed to nominate 5 people, which will be hard. I can think of about 10 right off the top of my head, but I'll follow the rules and keep it to five. These are in no particular order, and are just a few of the women who bless me every day.

1. Rebecca. She won't even see this right away because she's off enjoying a much needed vacation with her family. Rebecca has such a big, beautiful heart. She loves God and her family, and is such an awesome advocate for foster care and adoption.
2. S. is devoted to her three little ones and a master at cleaning up Nutella (I would have linked to the post explaining this, but couldn't remember when it happened). She's also an advocate for those with mental challenges, particularly Down's.
3. Miles' Mama Such a genuine Sweet pea. She's the kind of girl you root for. You just want good things for her. Her sunny, optimistic thoughts always bless my heart. And her kid is so darn cute I just wish I could scoop him up and pinch him.
4. Christina, AKA Mrs. Broccoli Guy. My twin. We are similarly minded in many ways, it seems. She's constantly putting my thoughts into words, but she talks so much gooder than me. This is one busy little girlie. She is dedicated to her big family and to being a voice for ethical adoption (she is one of the contributors at VVAI). She is a woman of faith and I wish I knew her IRL. I love this chick.
5. Angel. Another advocate and another woman of awesome faith. Angel cares deeply about reaching out to those less fortunate. She strikes me as the kind of person who should not drink coffee. She's very passionate and excited about the things she believes in- no caffeine required to get this girl going. You can almost hear the passion in her posts about everything she loves... her God, her hub, her 3 gorgeous daughters, her causes.

I didn't check first to see if any of these women have already received the award. If you have, just add me to your list of fans. Thank you, ladies, for blessing me.

Other stuff: One quick, totally unrelated story before I go...

This afternoon, I heard the doorbell ring. I was busy at the other end of the house and waited to hear someone yell, "Maawwwwm?" No one did. Pretty soon, Bri came bouncing into the room so I asked her who was at the door. She said...

"U.P.Nis."

I had just enough time to formulate the thought, "What did you just call me?"

Then she said, "He just left a package."

Oh...

U.P.Nis is U.P.S.

A Pig in Lipstick

Alternate title: "If You Give a Pig a Pancake..." Chances are she'll inhale the whole stack, then look like the unfortunate creature below. These are the choices for the pics I have to send to the agency. I have to choose two. Whaddya think?? Would you give these idiots a kid?

1. Fat and happy.
2. Still fat, less happy. 3. Fat, happy, and in love. I love this one, BUT I was afraid the agency would see all that neck fat and worry that I might try to eat the baby. That isn't the impression I want to make.

4. Oh so casual with the leg propped up.
5. Lookin' all schwanky and uppity (and sparkly... do you think the agency will go for sparkly?). Vote for the two pics that make us appear to be decent parent material.

And... You can put this in your "All I Never Wanted to Know and Then Some" file: I don't know what the deal is with my skin lately. My face is just exploding with zits. Ex-puh-loading. I had to slather a bucket of crap on my face (aka concealer, for the non makeup savvy. Not literal crap. That would be gross, and just weird.) to cover them for those pictures. I think the stress of the last few weeks, with Vietnam and then deciding to start over again, is working it's way out through my skin. I'm Forty-Freakin'-One years old, people!! When does the teenage acne crap stop? You know what's funny? I never had trouble with zits until I turned 21 (Why, yes, Michelle- that is funny )... At the age that signals the official beginning of adulthood, when most people are throwing their old Clearasil tubes in the trash, my face decided to unleash He** on me. I took that horrid Accutane crap when it first started (huge mistake), and have been on just about every other thing under the sun since. ENOUGH! I want clear skin before I die. I guess the upside of it is... oh, forget it. There is no upside.

Well, that was hardly blog-worthy, but that's never stopped me before. It's all I've got for today.

Ooh, one more thing. Darrell thinks I should hold off on changing the name of my blog. He wants me to wait and see what happens with the new adoption plan. He also thinks we should use the name Sam for either a boy or a girl... . And there's your first hint about the new program we've chosen: We are allowed to specify gender. But- we have decided to leave it open. The only reason we requested a boy in the VN program, was because we were told there were more people preferring girls and more boys available. I would rather have it be the way it is when you're pregnant- you get what you get and you like it.

So for those of you who would like to play the "Where in the World is Sam?" game, you've just received your first clue. Not a good clue, I know- but I'll give you better ones when we're ready to let the cat out of the bag. You can guess as many times as you want, I won't reveal the winner until all the clues are given. If you already know the answer because I've told you or because you belong to the Yahoo group for this program, don't spoil it for those who want to play! If you are able to guess the program from this one crappy clue, I will be amazed. So amazed that I just might send you a check for one million dollars -*Might* being the key word, there (say *one MILL-ion dollars* in your best Dr. Evil voice).

Okay, so the prizes in this game are... um... kinda nonexistent, but play anyway!

Never Forget

Remembering all those affected on Sept. 11, 2001, and lifting our nation up in prayer.

Exactly what I was trying to say...

S. has an article up on her blog by Linda Keenan which goes along with this post of mine from the other day. Did you see it yet? She said what I meant, only better. If you haven't already, go read it.

Hope you guys have a wonderful, blessed day!

Nobama '08! (That one was for Nicki, Laurie, and you other lefties!)